THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



167 



' Before I commenced giving my cattle salt, my 

 faniei's bill sveni^'etl 56 |ioun(ls per annimi, (or 

 more tliau 250 dollars,) and since 1 have used .Sf\lt, 

 I have never paid in any one year over five shil- 

 lings.' 



Where cattle have access to sheds, troughs 

 with a constant supply of salt in iheni sliould he 

 kept for their use. Where they nnist lie salted in 

 the fields, troughs should he placed, and salt sup- 

 plied frequently. There will, in exposed troughs, 

 always he more or less loss fi-om rain, but tliat 

 should not prevent a supply. — It has been found an 

 excellent ])ractice where sheep alone come to the 

 troughs, to put a liltle lar on the bottom and 

 sprinkle the salt upon it. In this way a small por- 

 tion of the tar is taken with the salt, and is not 

 only found conducive to health, hut rubbed in this 

 way over the nose serves to prevent the attacks of 

 the Estrug ovis or sheep-fly. — Alb Cult. 



Mistaken notions respecting Labor. 



If there is one subject more than another, upon 

 which the opinions of the American public re- 

 quire to be set right, it appears to us to be the 

 great one of labor. We do not jiretend to assign 

 any cause other than such as exists every where, 

 — the natural tendencies of mankind to separate 

 into castes, in which freedom from labor is consi- 

 dered the great good, and where the necessity of 

 submitting to it is associated with the ideas of de- 

 gradation and dependence. In European coun- 

 tries, where the ancient forms of society tolerate 

 such artificial distinctions, they may be expected 

 to prevail ; where one man is born with a golden 

 spoon in liis mouth, and another with an iron 

 chain about his neck, freedom from which is im- 

 jiossible, we should not be surprised to find such 

 erroneous ideas of labor ; but here, in republican 

 America, where every man makes or mars his 

 own fortunes, and is the architect of his own des- 

 tiny, to dream of any other distinctions than such 

 as merit confers is preposterous, or to talk of labor 

 being disgraceful or degrading, is a gross perver- 

 sion of terms. Still with such facts staring them 

 in the face, there are multitudes in cm- country 

 who have yet to learn, " that any condition of lite 

 is honorable, which shall [lermit them to be inde- 

 jjendcnt, and preserve them from dishonor." 



it' the opinion that labor is degrading, personal 

 labor with the hands we mean, was a harmless 

 error, (if any error can be considered such ;) if it 

 did not have a blighting and pestiferous influence 

 on the prospects of thousands in om- coimtry, it 

 might be allowed to pass without notice ; but such 

 is not the case. Let this notion become instilled 

 into the head of any individual, man or woman, 

 and unless they muster philosophy sutficient to 

 shake it off, they become useless to society, a 

 curse to themselves, and not unfrequently a bur- 

 den their friends would willingly shake oft' but 

 cannot. 



We see the influence of this feeling in the anx- 

 iety shown by jiarcnts to crowd their sons into 

 what are called ihe learmd profession.*, in prefer- 

 ence to giving them a sound practical education, 

 and fitting them for usefulness as tanners or nje- 

 chanics. Is the ac(|uisilion of wealth rnore general 

 with ))rofessional men, than with well inlbrmed, 

 industrious farmers or mechanics ? — It is believed 

 not; but the boy and the man is flattered with the 

 idea that he is going to escape the primal curse, 

 and that when mixing with his fellow men, he 

 shall not be classed with the common mass that 

 toil filr their daily bread. Poor fool! if such are 

 his reasons for spending so many years of his life, 

 and so much money in obtaining what is too fre- 

 quently misnamed an education, he had better 

 been a slave at the oar, for of one it may be 

 said he is useful in one way at least, while the 

 other is not only useless to the world, but by 

 his examples serves to perpetuate error. Educate 

 the young as much as you jilease ; but do not edu- 

 cate them for places where they are not wanted ; 

 nor in such a way as to render them worthless 

 members of the community, incapable of getting 

 a direct living in any honorable way, if a change 

 of circumstances or unavoidable necessity, thro^v 

 them upon their own resources. That is not edu- 

 cEtion, at least not sucli as we require in this 

 country, which only accumulates abstract know- 

 ledge, without regard to utility or condition, or 

 that pliysical and mental training so indispensable 

 in a country like oins. 



If the pernicious influencB of this notion of the 

 degradation of labor is thus jierceptible on our 



young men, it is still more fearfully marked 

 on the conduct and condition of our females. In 

 all parts of the world, the female of pure morals, 

 good habits, and sound constitution — fomides in 

 short, fit to become the mothers of /Hen, such men 

 as are to control the destinies of our republic, 

 have been found in the domestic sanctuaries of 

 rural life. Trained up under the eye of a judicious 

 mother; taught that to be useful in whatever 

 sphere they are placed, is one of the first duties of 

 woman ; free from the contagious examples of 

 s|)lendid vice, and the poisonous influence of the 

 moral atmosphere of the city, the daiighters of the 

 coimtry should remain the noble and pure heart- 

 ed women their mothers were, uninfected by the 

 prevalent absurdities of the day. There is every 

 reason to felir that such is not the case ; that the 

 feelings \vhich emanate from the atmosphere of 

 wealth, idleness, and vice, are insensibly spread- 

 ing over the country, and pein>trating bosoms that 

 should be sacred to nobler aspirations. A father 

 may be worth his hundreds of thousands ; but is 

 that any reason why his daughlns should not be 

 so instructed and trained as to be able properly to 

 sustain the high obligation which is expected to 

 rest on them as women and as mothers, in any of 

 the situations in which an honorable woman may 

 be placed ? A thousand examples may be shown 

 where wealth has glided away, and those who 

 have been educated, improperly educated we say, 

 with expectations that they were always to abound 

 in riches, have found themselves cast on the wide 

 world, and its cold chiirities, wiihont the disposi- 

 tion or the power to help or jirovide in any honor- 

 able way for themselves. The lault is in their edu- 

 tion. It has been instilled into them, that to be 

 qualified for usefulness was a disgrace ; that the 

 more helpless, and we may add worthless, a wo- 

 man was, the more she was to be prized ; that to 

 inquire what were the duties and the ijiobable 

 destiny of an American woman, were an infringe- 

 ment of her high prerogative ; and that if the 

 teacher had pronounced her finished, and the fa- 

 shionable world accouiplished, the great end of 

 education had been gained. She gets married, 

 and then what does the world, what does hcrhus- 

 baiid care for such things, as the most valuable 

 jiortion of her life has been spent in accjuiring ? 

 Will playing on the piano, or dancing, or singing, 

 make a shirt fir the husband or a dre.ss for the 

 babe .' Will an acquaintance with all the ologies 

 construct a pudding or a loaf of bread 'f Will 

 years sjient in the study of rhetoric or metapliy- 

 sics, qualify her to do her own marketing, or make 

 herskilfid in the selection of cabbages or pota- 

 toes? If a rich man wishes a doll, ho buys a 

 china one and places it on his mantle; he certain- 

 ly, if he is a man of sense, does not wish his wife 

 to be one ; and on nine-tenths of the females who 

 spend their years in lhe.se .studies, the money and 

 time is as really thrown away, as if spent in gild- 

 ing the edge of the domestic dinner pat. No per- 

 son « ho looks at things as they are, can wonder 

 at the increasing numbers of unmarried women 

 in our country. The man who marries, in every 

 ease, (or if there are exceptions, they are so few 

 as not to be worth notice,) wishes a wife that will 

 take care of his property as Well as himself; that 

 is competent to take charge of his h*use in every 

 respect, and see that every thing is managed and 

 cared for as it should be; mid when so many of 

 our females receive an education for directly the 

 reverse of these things, it is not to be wondered 

 at, that the indu.strious young man who has his 

 fortune to make, and wishes to rise in the world, 

 stands aloof and lets them pass on in single bless- 

 edness?. The ability to make a good wife and mother 

 does not come instinctively. The duties must be 

 learned, an apprenticeship must be served, and 

 she who declines this must fail when she comes 

 to the trial. The ambition of woman should he 

 to beautify and adorn the domestic circle; her 

 proper place is the bosom of the Ihmily ; and it is 

 only there she can be qualified to iiilfii her high 

 destiny. For a poor giv I, or one in nifiderato cir- 

 cumstances, the very best place is a situation in an 

 orderly well conducted ilimily ; yet how often do 

 we see them declining to labor in a family, and 

 preferring the qiwsi slavery of a cotton factory, 

 the last place in tlie world. .1 fashionable temaie 

 academy excepted, to fit a woman for domestic 

 society and uselhhiess. 



A poor boy commences his life In the country ; 

 and there he gains vigor of constitution and ener- 

 ey of will. He goes to t)ie city and amasses n 



large property. His wife was selected for the 

 qualities he admired, tin ilt and good housewifery. 

 His sons and his daughters are educated with all 

 the fashionable additions of the age, and the conse- 

 quent cordial dislike of labor in any ibrm. Mislbr- 

 tune overtakes the family, and from the heights 

 of gentility tbey sie plunged to the abyss of des- 

 tuition. How mtary of tljcse sons and daughters 

 will have energy and decision of character enough 

 to accommodate themselves to their new condi- 

 tion ; to set about in earnest learning the art of 

 being useful, of being able by lionest industry to 

 provide tor themselves ? M'e wish we could say 

 there was any pjobubility that a single one would 

 do so. On tlie contrary, it is almost ceitain they 

 will cling to former associations, still strive lor the 

 former ^ood society, and gradually sink down into 

 a kind- of .shabby gentility, the principal ingredi- 

 ents of which are poverty and pride. Too often, 

 ho\\ever, to keep up a|ipearances, resort is had to 

 couses which debase the mind, and are sure pre- 

 cursors to infamy, degradation and ruin. Let it 

 be fully impressed on the mind of every one that 

 labor, personal labor, in itself is never disgraceful ; 

 and that the ability to jirovide for themselves, is 

 a duty enjoined by God himself on every indiv- 

 Aaa\.—Slb. Cult 



Worcester Horticultural Society. 



We are qinte confident that the attention of 

 farmers, and gentlemen of the liberal and mecha- 

 nical professions who have leisure, cannot be bet- 

 ter directed than to be turned to the rearing and 

 propagation of those fruits adapted to our soil. 

 Fruits of the tropical climes are made a matter of 

 extensive commerce. Oranges, lemons, raisins, 

 fi^s, currants, etc., are brought to oiu' country in 

 siiiiis, and become a matter of extf'iisive merchan- 

 dize ; yet it is questionable whether there is any 

 fruit produced in the world so palateable and use- 

 ful as the apple which is raised in New England. 

 This is said to be the fruit chosen above all others 

 in foreign countries, where it can be obtained. 



The apple is peculiarly congenial to the soil of 

 New England. In the varieties of apples wc 

 have a.s many kinds and qualities as there are dif- 

 I'erent tastes, and almost as many colors and sizes 

 as kinds. The improved fruits are much more 

 valuable than those in a natm-al state ; and science 

 and skill in rearing fruits are no less valuable than 

 science and skill applied to any thing else. 



We are glad to perceive the public attention 

 drawn to the productions of the nursery and or- 

 chard : this attention ought to spread from the 

 seaboard to the interior. A good apple orchard is 

 not less valuable a hundred miles in the country 

 than near the seaboard. If the farmers do not 

 raise their apples to sell, what sort of eating gives 

 Ihe palate more gratification than a fine Baldwin 

 or Kussel apple of a winter evening ? The neigh- 

 bor who visits you talks belter, feels bctler, nfin- 

 gles better his .sympathies, while eating your ap- 

 ples than w bile drinking your wine. The charms 

 of country neighborhood association are increased 

 by such enterlaiunjents as the f'ririts of the earth 

 afibrd without cereniony and without ostenta- 

 tion. 



We wish to see our country farmers enjoy, not 

 only the common comforts, "but all such elegan- 

 cies of life as may be procured without too great 

 sacrifice. If a fiirmer, by the application of skill 

 and taste, with no very severe labor, may in the 

 course of twenty years, while carrying on a piece 

 of land, raise up an ajiple orchard that will yield 

 him annually one hundred to five hundred bar- 

 rels of choice apples ; and from those apples he 

 can obtain a revenue equal to the annual lawful 

 interest of two to five hundred dollars to every 

 acre of land thus cultivated ; how much better 

 will it be to set to woik than \vork not at all .' 



With the exhibition of the Agricultural Society 

 at Worcester, >Iass., in October last, there was the 

 first exhibition of the Worcester Horticultural So- 

 cieiv- The spirited gentlemen who instituted this 

 Horticultural exhibition — aye, and the ladies too, 

 who aided with their delicate hands In decorating' 

 the hall containing the various fruits, with flow- 

 ers as fragrant and beautiful as the taste of the 

 fruits was" delicious — are deserving the thanks of 

 the whole community. 



Although the report of the committee on fniitu 

 of the Worcester Horlicultural Society is but a 

 catalogue of names as repects some kirdfl, yet its 

 description of others contains more ii formation 

 than we are in the habit of finding elsewhere. 



